Higher Education In The GulfProblems and Prospects

This book will be of value to those in the West and in the Middle East with an interest in the contemporary state of the higher educational system in the region and in comparative education in general. It concentrates on the Gulf, but the problems of control, development, curriculum and purpose in higher education are general throughout the Middle East. Its contributors are mainly academics working in universities in the Gulf region.

Higher Education in the Gulf stresses the need for engagement with the problems of the Gulf States as developing countries and the roles which practical, locally-based research can play in promoting balanced, self-reliant development. For too long work in the West relating to the Gulf has concentrated on oil, military and political issues, and this book looks beyond these to the neglected areas of social, cultural and human capital aspects of modernisation. It is deliberately intended to suggest and promote research.

Contents: Gulf higher education - overview from the West and some themes for research, K.E. Shaw; internal evaluation in higher education - towards a model for Third World countries, Nathir G. Sara; quantifiable and unquantifiable costs and benefits of higher education in an Arab Gulf context, Kamil Mahdi; strategic studies in the Gulf, A. Rathmell; the dialogue of ink, blood and water - higher education in Iraq, progress and problems, A.J. Allaq; higher education in Oman - its development and prospects, M. al-Shibiny; higher education in the UAE - history and prospects, Khalifa al-Suwaidi; prospects of higher education in the UAE - the higher colleges of technology, S. al-Jassim; Sudanese influences on Gulf higher education, H.O. Ahmed; Omanisation and faculty development in Oman, F.N. al-Farsi; faculty and administration in Oman, Khalifa al-Saadi; curriculum and teacher training in the UAE, H.A. al-Banna.

K.E. Shaw was previously at the School of Education, University of Exeter and now concentrates on research in Middle East education.